This Week's Voices from Around the World

Rita Marie is the creator of BePeace, a practice that allows individuals to access their natural wisdom and compassion, and the founder of the Rasur Foundation in Costa Rica, whose main project is the Academy for Peace. She also founded a US nonprofit, Rasur Foundation International, which has initiated BePeace in many states and offers it as one of the courses in the certificate program of the National Peace Academy. Rita Marie teaches at the UN University for Peace in Costa Rica and has introduced BePeace in Japan, Canada, and …

Mary Liepold
Editor in Chief
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Article 78 of Costa Rica’s 1871 constitution, which made schooling both free and mandatory, may be seen as the first step in this nation’s progress toward peace education. Tomás Guardia Gutierrez, the president who enacted that constitution, came to power as a war hero, but his several terms in office saw the opening of many schools and colleges. He founded the National Bank and the National Archives, and in 1877 he abolished the death penalty.
The story continues with the 1946 epic poem Rasur, “a dreamlike reality” in …

Helen Rizzo
Cairo, Egypt
“A deeper look at the diverse examples of feminist activism shows that the two regions have more in common than one might think.”
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The idea that the West and Middle East have extremely different views on gender equality has gained traction in recent years. However, feminists and progressive activists in the West and the Middle East share many values when it comes to gender equality. A deeper look at the diverse examples of feminist activism shows that the two regions have more in common than one might think.
In both …

Yasmina Mrabet
Kenitra, Morocco
“Morocco is a country with a culture of almsgiving, so street children will almost always find something to eat and clothes to wear. However, food and clothes are not all that is necessary to address and alleviate their dire circumstances.”
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The problem of street children in Morocco is widespread. They are born into extreme poverty, and they can be found living in the streets as early as the age of 6 or 7. It is a method of survival – some to gather money for their families, some to …

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